They come by the hundreds every night to Fort Myers’ Broadway Palm — one of the last dinner theaters still standing in Florida and the United States.
More than 4.3 million audience members have visited Broadway Palm since the dinner theater opened 33 years ago in an old Publix grocery store. And they keep coming by car, truck, van and luxury motor coach — about half of them driving from neighboring Charlotte and Collier counties or beyond.
Just ask the Marco Shores Estates group that saw “Cats” there in February 2026. About 20 theater lovers — mostly retirees — made the one-hour drive from Collier County to see the weekday matinee.
“They do a wonderful show,” Marco Shores resident Michelle Naughton said. “I’ve never seen a bad show here.”
Broadway Palm survives in SW Florida as other dinner theaters fall
Despite a dwindling dinner-theater industry in the United States, Broadway Palm has managed to keep growing and attracting audiences from all over Southwest Florida and the rest of the state.
“We’re just cranking away,” owner Will Prather said in an April 2026 News-Press/Naples Daily News cover story on Broadway Palm’s massive success.
Many dinner theaters have closed since the ’90s, including the popular Naples Dinner Theatre, a Naples landmark that shut down in 2007 after a 51-year run and multiple owners. Its 32-year-old building was demolished and replaced with storage buildings.
When Broadway Palm opened in 1993, there were maybe 10 dinner theaters in the state of Florida, Prather said. Now there are only three: Broadway Palm, The Alhambra Theatre & Dining in Jacksonville and the Suncoast Broadway Dinner Theatre in Hudson.
The cast of Cats prepare for a show at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre in Fort Myers on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.
Laura Martin — president of the National Dinner Theatre Association and owner of two Maryland dinner theaters — said she looks up to Prather and everything he’s accomplished in Fort Myers.
“He has had such a successful business…” Martin said in April. “I want to see all of the dinner theaters succeed, and what Will is doing — holding firm and strong and continuing to grow while everything around him is changing — is just so admirable.”
A top 10 dinner theater in Fort Myers, Florida
A scene from Broadway Palm’s summer 2026 production of “The Wizard of Oz.”
Broadway Palm already had a reputation for good shows and food. And now that reputation extends beyond Southwest Florida, too.
Last year, USA Today announced its 10 best dinner theaters in the country — and two of them had Southwest Florida connections. Broadway Palm came it at No. 10. And another dinner theater owned by Fort Myers-based company Prather Productions — the Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre in Lancaster, Pennsylvania — made it all the way to No. 3.
The secret to Broadway Palm’s success? Prather said it’s partly Florida’s bigger-than-average number of retirees with lots of people in their ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Then there’s the theater’s ability to change with the times. Many U.S. dinner theaters have closed over the last three decades because they failed to reinvent themselves, he said.
The cast of Cats performs to a full house at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. Gulf Coast won 5-2.
“They stayed kind of stuck in a generation,” Prather said in April. “They didn’t bring in a new generation of leadership. They didn’t start producing the new shows. They kind of relied too heavily on the old formula, Rodgers & Hammerstein. Where we’ve gotten much more contemporary with our approach.”
Broadway Palm has adapted over the years by changing its menu, renovating its theater and producing a mix of newer shows such as “Pretty Woman” and “Shrek” and classics such as “Fiddler on the Roof” and the theater’s current show, “The Wizard of Oz” (playing now through Aug. 8).
‘We’re kind of like the last Alamo down here’
Demolition of Royal Palm Square continues on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. The Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre is seen in the background. The theatre is leasing the space for seven more years.
Even more impressive: People are still showing up despite the walls falling around the dinner theater’s shopping center, Royal Palm Square — knocked down by bulldozers and excavators earlier this year to make way for a redevelopment project featuring a hotel, medical offices, apartments and more.
Only three businesses remain in a small cluster of what used to be the Colonial Boulevard shopping center’s northwest corner: Cosmetology school The Salon Professional Academy, Omni Health Club (part of the redevelopment project) and Broadway Palm.
A scene from Broadway Palm’s new musical, “The Wizard of Oz,” playing now through Aug. 8.
Developer Alessio Properties bought the 45-year-old shopping center in 2022 for $12 million, fenced off most of the property last year and started tearing down the vacant shops and offices with bulldozers and excavators. The project is expected to open in late 2027 or sometime in 2028.
But despite the mess and upheaval, Prather says, his dinner theater isn’t going anywhere. He still has seven years on the lease — two years with an option to renew for another five — and he plans to remain open as construction continues and offices, parking garages and a hotel rise from the dirt around him.
“We’re kind of like the last Alamo down here,” he said “We’ll be hunkering down.”
Charles Runnells covers arts and entertainment for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. To reach him, call 239-335-0368 or email crunnells@usatodayco.com. Follow or message him on Facebook(@charles.runnells.7), Instagram (@crunnells1) and X (@CharlesRunnells).
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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Millions have visited Fort Myers, Florida dinner theater. Here’s why.